The Costa Rican Ministry of Health reported on Thursday a second death due to infection caused by the screwworm, a larva that flies deposit in wounds or mucous membranes of warm-blooded animals.
In the Central American country, 11 patients infected with myiasis have been reported so far, according to health authorities. The latest death corresponds to a patient with “an oral lesion where larvae were detected,” indicated the Minister of Health, Mary Munive, in a statement.
On June 19, the first human death in the country due to infection caused by this parasitic disease generated by the larvae of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly was recorded.
Symptoms in humans, according to the Ministry of Health, may include pain, intense itching, skin erythema, skin nodules, oozing wound, and the presence of a painful protuberance on the skin.
The screwworm typically affects cattle, sheep, and goats, but any warm-blooded animal is susceptible to infection, noted the National Animal Health Service.
According to the agency, Costa Rica had declared itself free of the disease in 2000, which was first detected in 1858 in Guyana and is present in countries of northern South America, Central America, the United States, and some Caribbean nations.
